Featured Charity for June: Homeboy Industries

“Homeboy Industries is the living example of our mission statement, “nothing stops a bullet like a job.”

Started as a jobs program offering alternatives to gang violence in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, Homeboy Industries assists at-risk, recently released, and formerly gang involved youth to become contributing members of their communities through a variety of services in response to their multiple needs.

Free programs — including counseling, education, tattoo removal, substance abuse and addiction assistance, job training and job placement — enable young people to redirect their lives.

Homeboy provides them with hope for their futures and is the nation’s largest gang-intervention and re-entry program – a model to all.

For more info, please visit: http://homeboy-industries.org

Take the Living Philanthropic Challenge Options:

Pledge $1 a day for the month of JUNE ($30)

Take up a cause and give a tweet!

Give once. Give Everyday.

To make a pledge, please visit: http://www.crowdrise.com/lp-homeboy

Thank you for being a living philanthropist!

Want to be a guest blogger on Living Philanthropic?
Join the team and donate on this page & submit your blog post about why you made a contribution here:  http://bit.ly/lp-blogger

Living Philanthropic was founded in April 2010 as one man’s mission to give to charity everyday for a year. This mission is built on a belief that you don’t have to be rich in dollars to make a difference; you only need to be rich in spirit. After completing his 365 day mission, the spirit of giving everyday carries on through his friends and in his mission to continue his micro-philanthropy for a third year. 

Day 295: Urban Ministries of Durham

I received an email from Rosalinda yesterday mentioning an online game called Spent,  she mentioned after playing for a few minutes, she had to quit. I was curious to see what this game was all about. The game challenges you to make it through a series of challenges for a month starting as an unemployed worker with a dwindling income. I made it though the month and had to make some tough decisions and still I had only $260 at the end of the month with a gas bill to pay and rent due. Many of the choices I had to make, reminded me of many of the decisions my mom had to make to keep a roof over our heads and food in the fridge. The game was created for Urban Ministries of Durham, a non-profit in North Carolina that provides for Durham’s homeless population. Rosalinda made a donation and I giving my daily donation to them as well.

At Urban Ministries of Durham they believe that no one should be without food, clean clothing or a safe place to sleep. They have created a welcoming, caring and compassionate environment where people can heal, find hope and begin to rebuild their lives. Their mission is to provide food, clothing, shelter, and supportive services to our neighbors in need.

Amount Donated: $5

To support Urban Ministries of Durham, please visit: http://www.umdurham.org

Can you make it through the month? http://playspent.org

Day 288: Food on Foot

Some of the readers of this blog, do some incredible things and you all continue to inspire me. There are so many great people out there creating positive change in their communities. Today’s give Food on Foot is another testament to power of one person’s drive to create good in the world. What started as one man trying to battle hunger in LA out of the trunk of his car has grown in a organization providing 250 meals to LA’s homeless each week!

Food on Foot is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (Tax-ID#31-1581053) dedicated to providing the poor and homeless of Los Angeles with nutritious meals, clothing, and assistance in the transition to employment and life off the streets.

Food on Foot operates a weekly meal program every Sunday in Hollywood. Food on Foot began in March 1996 as one man’s response to the hunger he witnessed among the poor and homeless of Hollywood. What initially began as the distribution of meals from the trunk of a car has grown through the dedication of its volunteers and now serves more than 250 meals each week to homeless, disabled, elderly and low-income adults and children.

Amount Donated: $5

To support Food on Foot, please visit: http://www.foodonfoot.org

Day 266: Northwest Family Services

I’ve been to Portland, Oregon a few times and have enjoyed the city, the culture, and the green space. It’s a very cool city, I did notice a large homeless population each time I was there, possibly just kids living on the street. I received an email recently from an employee working for Northwest Family Services with nice things to say about my blog, so to thank him and NWFS for all the work they do in a region that I love, I am sending them my donation for today. 

Northwest Family Services is a non-profit, non-sectarian corporation equipping people with vital skills for a lifetime. Their vision and mission focus on core issues that support individual success, family stability, and child well-being. With over 25 years of experience in social services, their competent staff and evidence-based programs are the hallmark of NWFS. They have an array of services and programs ranging from professional counseling, job readiness, positive youth development, healthy relationship education, and more.

Youth Programs:

  • School and Mentoring Programs
  • After-school Programs
  • Peer to Peer Leadership
  • Mentoring At-Risk Youth
  • Socio-Dramas
  • Summer Activities for Youth
  • Soccer and Cultural Engagement 
  • Healthy Kids Program—Free Oregon Children’s Health Insurance Enrollment

Adult Programs:

  • Professional Counseling
  • Anger Management
  • Job Readiness and Placement
  • Financial Literacy
  • Basic Needs 
  • Parent Education, e.g., Love and Logic
  • Parenting Inside Out (PIO)—for people in the system
  • Healthy Relationship Classes for Singles and Couples

Amount Donated: $5

To support Northwest Family Services, please visit: http://www.nwfs.org

Day 265: Inspiration Corporation

Wow, 100 days left in year one! It’s been an amazing journey so far, today I’m bringing it back home. Today’s give goes out to a Chicago organization working to provide support, employment and housing programs for Chicagoans affected by homelessness and poverty. The one thing I would like to point out about this 4 star organization is their donation form, there is a option every charity should offer, Mailing Frequency. There was a drop down for the donor to select how much mail they would like to receive and that is a great thing for the “green” donor like me, who would prefer to receive email correspondence only. Great job, Inspiration Corporation, in addition to all the great work you do for Chicago!

Through its supportive services, employment, and housing programs, Inspiration Corporation assists more than 3,000 individuals and families affected by homelessness and poverty each year - serving as a catalyst for self-reliance.

Inspiration Cafe, located in Uptown, and The Living Room Cafe in Woodlawn, serve meals in a restaurant-style setting and provide supportive services in a therapeutic community designed to help individuals on their journey toward self-sufficiency;

Open Case Management offers case management, information and referral services, and direct financial support to any community members, typically to address a temporary crisis or transition. In partnership with Emergency Fund, Inspiration Corporation provides cash grants to prevent eviction and homelessness.

Cafe Too, is a food service job-training program including an award-winning restaurant open to the public at 4715 N. Sheridan Road in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood;

The Employment Project, offers career services, employment preparation training, tuition subsidies, employer outreach, and job placement and retention services throughout Chicago;

Community Voice Mail, offers free, 24-hour voice mail service for phoneless, homeless and low-income individuals enabling them to connect with family, employers, housing and service providers;

Housing Services, offers a housing locator, rent subsidies and social services to help individuals and families find and maintain permanent housing.

Amount Donated: $10

To support Inspiration Corporation, please visit: http://www.inspirationcorp.org

Day 264: NPH International

Today’s give comes from a recommendation from a friend and generous spirit, Katie Riley, who does amazing work with She’s The First and Give Haiti Hope. Katie is a prime example of one person working to make an great impact. She recommended that I look into NPH International, based on her first hand experience visiting one of their clinics during a recent trip to Haiti. She was very impressed by what she saw and I value her opinion.

Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos International is a Christian mission that strives to provide a permanent family and home for orphaned, abandoned and other at-risk children who live in conditions of extreme poverty. Our programs provide quality education, health care and spiritual formation with the goal of raising productive members of their respective societies.

Amount Donated: $5

To support Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos International, please visit: http://www.nph.org and http://www.nphhaiti.org

Day 263: Child Abuse Prevention Center

Today’s give goes to an organization working to actively break the cycle of child abuse. There are so many challenges and hurdles that at-risk youth have to overcome outside their home. I believe it’s important that their home life is a safe place, free from violence, so they can confidently tackle the challenges ahead of them.

The Child Abuse Prevention Center directly serves at-risk children and families in crisis to prevent and break the generational cycle of child abuse. The Child Abuse Prevention Center is the county’s leading not-for-profit organization focused exclusively on the prevention of child abuse. Their early intervention programs have a well-documented record of strengthening and improving parent-child relationships, working to prevent child abuse before it occurs.

Their goals are accomplished by matching families at risk of child abuse with professional social workers to work with them in their homes. The goal of the intervention is to replace old patterns of abuse with nurturing parenting styles, as well as to empower parents to become financially self-sufficient.

Amount Donated: $5

To support Child Abuse Prevention Center, please visit: http://www.brightfutures4kids.org